Ten Years Later
by notKate
Summary: So ten years after Sara arrived at Miss Minchin's where exactly are all the girls from the select seminary? Are they grown up and married? Do they have children? Are they only teenagers with a sense of adventure themselves? Are they only just finding their true loves?


**A/N: So this is basically just a story of what I think happened ten years after Sara arrived at Miss Minchin's. It has some characters and stuff from the sequel, but don't worry, it'll all be explained if you haven't read it. Hope you like it!**

Chapter 1

A fourteen year old Lottie walked into the front room of the house she shared with Lavinia, Alice, and Bosco the cat. After the fire at Miss Minchin's, Miss Amelia had married the vicar, leaving Miss Minchin 'free' as Lavinia said. So Miss Amelia went to live at the vicarage, whilst Miss Minchin bought her own house. She invited Lavinia to live with her, in order to keep teaching her English literature. She took Alice, the maid who took Becky's place, along too of course. Lottie had wanted to come as well, and in the end she got her way, as usual. Tristram, the boy who had moved in next door, had given Lottie his cat, Bosco, as a reward for her heroism, or so he said. So the five lived in a new house together, until Miss Minchin decided to buy another house of her own. Miss Minchin still visited regularly though. Today was one of the days when she visited.

"Lavvie," Lottie said. "Miss Minchin's here."

"I told you stop calling me Lavvie," Lavinia said, then went to greet Miss Minchin.

At the age of twenty two, Lavinia did not care to be called childish pet names such as Lavvie.

Miss Minchin and Lavinia sat and talked for a while, before Lottie patted Bosco on the head and quietly slipped out of the front door.

Meanwhile, Ermengarde was at her Aunt Eliza's, along with various other girls who had been at Miss Minchin's, and new girls that had joined over the years. The reason why they were at Aunt Eliza's now was because after the fire none of the girls except Lavinia and Lottie had anywhere to go, so Aunt Eliza's house had been turned into a boarding house. Everyone went to school on the train now.

Ermengarde was seventeen. She still wrote to Sara but she hadn't seen her since the fire – four years ago. She was in her bedroom, sitting on the window seat, when suddenly a rat came up to her.

"Oh, there you are Melchisedec," Ermengarde said. The real Melchisedec had died years ago, but he had found himself a new wife and had children. Ermengarde wasn't very interested in rats and couldn't exactly tell them apart, so she called all of Melchisedec's family Melchisedec.

Ermengarde walked over to an old bag of hers and took out some old photos. They were photos of her and other people at Miss Minchin's. There was five of the whole select seminary. The first one was before Sara arrived at Miss Minchin's. Ermengarde was standing at the end of the group, looking a bit cast out, perhaps. In the second one Sara was there. It had been taken before her papa had died. She was standing next to Ermengarde and both girls were smiling. In the third one, Ermengarde was alone again, unsmiling, whilst Sara was in the attic. In the fourth one Sara was back, but she and Ermengarde didn't seem as close anymore. In the last one Sara was gone, the same as in the first and third ones. There were other photos too. Photos of Ermengarde by herself, photos of her and Sara, photos of her and Lottie. She never looked very happy unless she was with Sara. She smiled to herself, a little sadly.

Suddenly, the door burst open, causing Ermengarde to drop all of the photos on the floor. She turned around and saw Lottie Leigh standing in the doorway.

"Lottie?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Lavvie and Miss Minchin are so boring, I've come to visit you."

"Well you could at least knock next time," Ermengarde said. Although Lottie was fourteen, she still behaved like a four year old sometimes.

Ermengarde picked up the photos and put them back in the bag, but not before Lottie saw them.

"Oh Ermie, you still have those old photos?" Lottie asked.

"Yes, I do," Ermengarde replied.

"Well I think you should take new ones."

"Lottie, in case you didn't notice, half the girls are long gone, Sara's all the way in India, and everyone's grown up now. Well, except you, it seems."

"Well I think you should take a new photo of me and send it to Sara. She'll miss me so much that she'll have to come and visit."

Ermengarde just sat quietly.

"Oh you're no fun either," Lottie said, sulkily.

Ermengarde sighed.

"Come on, we'll go out somewhere."

Lottie's eyes lit up and she grinned, dimples on her rosy cheeks. Ermengarde had to admit that the girl she had once known as an annoying, sulky four year old had become rather pretty over the years. And Ermengarde didn't know it, but she had too. She always thought of herself as a very ugly girl, but she now had colour in her face which had once been so pale and a sparkle in her eyes that had never been there before.

Later that day, Lottie arrived back home but Ermengarde stayed out. She was very bored and felt like walking around. As she walked through the streets, she noticed a boy, around her age, sitting on the ground, leaning against a wall. He was definitely homeless. Ermengarde felt sorry for him. She had a small amount of money in her pocket, and she decided to be like Sara. She walked over to him and gave him a sixpence.

"You look hungry," she said, and the boy smiled at her. Close up, she saw that the boy had beautiful brown hair, and dreamy blue eyes.

"Thank you," he said.

"What is your name?" Ermengarde asked.

"Harry. What's yours?"

"Ermengarde."

"Thank you Ermengarde," Harry said, smiling, then walked off to a bakers.

Ermengarde turned away and smiled to herself. She never believed in love at first sight, and she never thought she would fall in love with a beggar boy. That was two thoughts that had deceived her today…

Harry Stone walked into the bakers shop.

"Did you get any money Harry?" his mother asked.

"Yes mum. I sat on the ground and pretended to be a beggar. But I really don't like doing this. It's wrong."

"You'll do what I tell you to. Now give me the money and go upstairs to the flat."

Harry handed his mother the sixpence that Ermengarde gave him and his mother smiled greedily. Harry walked up the stairs, sighing. The moment he had looked into Ermengarde's eyes, he had seen a natural beauty in her. She had seemed like a very nice girl, and Harry hated to steal from her, or anyone for that matter.

He looked out of the window and saw Ermengarde walking along the road. He didn't know quite what it was, but she was different from most girls, and in a good way. A very good way.


End file.
